USA. Atlanta — September 1, 2015 — The Thermoforming Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) held its 24th Annual Conference in Atlanta Georgia this month. Every year as part of the conference, the SPE Thermoforming Division hold a parts competition, which is highly regarded in the industry. Thermoformed parts are submitted by thermoformers, tool makers, sheet suppliers, and students.
Students from Penn College (Williamsport, PA) had the exclusive opportunity to work with SPI’s new Infused Imaging™ technology. They collaborated with Jym Kauffman, Infused Imaging™ Technical Manager and Becky Gallup, Infused Imaging™ Graphic Designer, to experiment with pattern-in-product in their competition entries.
SEKISUI SPI attends the SPE thermoforming conference every year as a part of the company’s commitment to supporting the organization and the thermoforming industry. “The mission of the Society of Plastics Engineers is to facilitate the advancement of thermoforming technologies through education, application, promotion, and research. We look forward to this show as an opportunity to listen to our customers’ challenges and dreams while keeping our finger on the pulse of the latest thermoforming technologies,” says Ronn Cort, COO & President of the company, “We’re especially pleased and proud of the companies who submitted entries to the SPE parts competition that are made of KYDEX® or ALLEN® Thermoplastics.”
The entries featuring SEKISUI SPI products were:
Kintz Plastics www.kintz.com
KYDEX® T Medical Laser Unit Cover
This large pressure formed enclosure is the top cover for a highly sophisticated portable medical laser unit, which houses new laser technology used for the removal of tattoos.
- MATERIAL:
0.375” gauge KYDEX® T sheet
- TOOLING:
Approximately 20” wide by 34” in length, formed into a female, machined aluminum, temperature controlled production mold cavity that is over 11” in depth.
- DESCRIPTION:
In order to accommodate that three of the Top Cover sidewalls had zero draft, horizontal ribbing for venting, undercuts, and numerous molded-in sidewall recesses, three of the four mold sidewalls retract pneumatically to allow the forming of the required features and the removal of the part after forming. To assist the stretching of the heated plastic sheet into the mold, a syntactic foam plug assist is also used.
After forming, internal blocks for mounting features are added and then the Top Cover is completely machined utilizing a large five-axis machining center. Once machined, there are 16 threaded inserts assembled to the cover for mounting features.
Once the machined cover is deburred, inspected, and cleaned it goes through a number of prep operations for the copper conductive coating that is sprayed on the inside surfaces of the cover and the two-tone (blue and black) paint finish that is applied to the outside surfaces of the cover.
SMI www.smi-mfg.com
KYDEX® T assembly is for a medical device used in the operating room
- MATERIAL:
KYDEX® T in 0.250" starting gauge
- DETAILS AND BENEFITS
The innovative design utilizes snap features to attach the canister chamber, which eliminate the need for mechanical fasteners and reduces assembly time at the OEM. Formed-in features also allow for easy and consistent part alignment to ease assembly.
The formed-in threads also addressed a customer requirement to reduce secondary operations and total number of parts. This was a challenge in tooling design that was addressed through collaboration between the thermoforming engineering and OEM engineering teams.
The tooling is temperature controlled production tooling that is machined from block aluminum.
Profile Plastics www.thermoform.com
KYDEX® T twin sheet air duct designed to cool critical elements of medical diagnostic machine
- MATERIAL:
0.125” / 0.125” KYDEX® T
- TOOLING:
- Machined aluminum female twin sheet production tooling with temperature control
- Two cavity mold forms left-hand and right-hand parts (1 set)
- DETAILS AND BENEFITS:
The application is well-suited to twin sheet strengths. Twin sheet was chosen for its combination of lower cost tooling, dimensional stability, and flexibility in design as compared to other processes. The “Engineered” shape was created to make the most effective use of valuable interior space and the part includes a formed-in attachment tab to reduce assembly parts and time, which could have been secondary operation for other processes. A requirement for smooth end hose connections dictated an “inside pinch” design and close tolerance trim.
Profile Plastics www.thermoform.com
KYDEX® T twin sheet duct assembly designed to cool critical elements of medical diagnostic machine
- MATERIAL:
0.125” / 0.125” KYDEX® T
- TOOLING:
One-up, machined aluminum female twin sheet production tooling with temperature control
- DETAILS AND BENEFITS:
Modifications to original injection molded part design were required to accommodate a twin sheet process, particularly in the strategic placement of the weld seam. Twin sheet was chosen for its combination of lower cost tooling, dimensional stability, and flexibility in design as compared to other processes. DFM features such as locating features for flanges to control critical positioning streamline the assembly process and the “engineered” shape makes the most of effective use of valuable interior space.
Productive Plastics www.productiveplastics.com
KYDEX® T & KYDEX® V103 Indoor/Outdoor Kiosk
- MATERIAL:
KYDEX® T and KYDEX® V103
- TOOLING:
Utilizing Baystate Casting and Borke Mold, Pressure formed into a textured mold
- FEATURES AND BENEFITS:
The parts had to cosmetically match parts that where produced in two different processes (injection molding and stamped metal). In order to achieve the customer’s distribution of materials requirement, both parts utilized pushers to pre-stretch materials.
KYDEX® T and KYDEX® V103 were used over the product lifecycle. Both materials allowed for required wall thicknesses over multiple runs and hundreds of parts in both production and field replacements.
The design of the kiosk specified the part attach to a metal skeleton. This required +/- 0.020" so the attachment points would line up with the sheet metal attachment points for the full length of the rear cover and interior parts on the front fascia. Although the tolerance is industry standard for machining this was achieved with a hand drilling fixture because space would not accommodate a CNC router.
The large rear cover had an undercut feature that ran the length of both sides and the top. This allowed for formed-in mating points between the thermoformed rear cover and a sheet metal upper
Productive Plastics www.productiveplastics.com
KYDEX® T covers for an automated diagnostic system t
hat checks patient tests results and flags them for doctor evaluation
- MATERIAL:
KYDEX® T
- TOOLING:
Utilizing Baystate Casting and Borke Mold for tooling, all three parts were pressure formed with a textured mold. In order to achieve the customer’s distribution of materials requirement both parts utilized pushers to pre-stretch materials
- FEATURES AND BENEFITS:
KYDEX® T was used over the product lifecycle. The material allowed for required wall thicknesses over multiple runs and hundreds of parts in both production and field replacements.
The design of the kiosk specified the part fit to a metal skeleton that required +/- .020 geometric tolerances for the attachment. The full assembly is seven different parts. (This photo displays four of those parts.)
All three pieces utilize undercuts to make formed-in seams. The depth of the undercut location required that the loose tooling pieces had to be temperature controlled to reduce warping during processing.
Productive Plastics www.productiveplastics.com
KYDEX® T covers for a medical scanning device
- MATERIAL:
KYDEX® T
- TOOLING:
Utilizing the self-molding process for tooling, all eight parts were pressure formed using a cast and machined mold. In order to achieve the customer’s distribution of materials requirement all parts utilized pushers to pre-stretch materials.
- FEATURES AND BENEFITS:
KYDEX® T was used over the product lifecycle. The material allowed for required wall thicknesses and consistency over multiple runs and hundreds of parts in both production and field replacements.
The ten parts used undercuts and formed-in mating edges for better line-to-line fit up. Cast and then CNC-cut tools allowed for the precision required to have the assembly fit-up after design. The assembly allows for the parts to fit a separate metal frame that comes together at a staging location. This custom hardware reduced the amount of tools and total time needed to install and service (Sample does not show hardware due to customer request.).
Medallion Plastics www.medallionplastics.com
ALLEN® 8100 Aftermarket hood assembly for Ford F-150 aluminum body OE
- MATERIAL:
ALLEN® 8100 General Purpose PC ABS, 0.200" gauge black critical smooth texture
- TOOLING:
Ceramic
- FEATURES & BENEFITS:
The hood has a unique design that features an outer and inner hood which are assembled together to replace the Ford F-150 Aluminum Body OE Hood for an aftermarket truck assembly part.
The two-piece hood is produced using 0.200" gauge black critical smooth ALLEN® 8100 General Purpose ABS that exhibits high impact strength coupled with high heat deflection.
Using a ceramic tool, which was not water cooled, Medallion is able to use innovative design techniques to allow for negative drafts on the tooling.
The assembly consists of an outer hood, inner hood, hinge bracket and striker plate. Bonding the mounting hardware in between the inner and outer hood structure allows for a direct bolt on replacement to the OE hood. The hood is then post-painted to match the OE body color.
The PC/ABS hood replaced a much heavier aftermarket fiberglass hood that weighed approximately 20% more and seen a 50% time savings in processing, prep and paint time.
Medallion Plastics www.medallionplastics.com
ALLEN® ABS Thermoplastic Class A motorhome dash top with automotive style stitching
- MATERIAL:
ALLEN® ABS (Utility grade), 0.187" gauge black, deep haircell texture
- TOOLING:
Ceramic
- FEATURES & BENEFITS:
The dash top with automotive-style stitching is a step above the current ABS/Vinyl wrapped style of dash tops that have been in high-end class A units over the last few years.
The dash top assembly with automotive stich is produced using 0.187" gauge ALLEN® thermoplastic sheet in black, deep haircell texture on both the outer and inner pieces.
Using a ceramic tool that is not water cooled, Medallion is able to use innovative design techniques to allow for negative drafts on the tooling.
The assembly consists of a dash top outer, dash top inner, foam and a cut-and-sew top stitched cover. The process to assemble is as follows: A dash top with adhesive on the surface, is bonded to a 0.500" layer of foam. This is completed with precision to ensure the automotive look. After the dash top is covered, the dash top inner is bonded to the underside of the part using Plexus adhesive.
The dash top with stitching give the RV Market the automotive style that has been admired for years.